We saw a lot of change in 2018, but there are certain things that stayed consistent.

These are the blog posts we feel best represent what’s to come in 2019, either in their simplicity, the values they represent, or in terms of what BRANDING FOR THE PEOPLE can offer. Here are our best of 2018.

If you’re interested in working with a branding agency, one of the first things you can do to set yourself apart is getting familiar with creating a Request for Proposal. Commonly shortened to RFP, the Request for Proposal is exactly that—reaching out to a select list of agencies with your info, budget, needs, etc. and encouraging them to bid on your project.

Uber rebranded again in 2018, ostensibly with the goal of improved legibility, especially from a distance. But it’s difficult to see this rebrand as separate from the controversy the company is already well-known for. From “Boober” to spying on Beyoncè, to Trump ties, to sexual harassment, to a Google lawsuit, to Travis Kalanick, Uber has a significant reputation problem. The question is, is yet another Uber rebranding—this rebranding—enough to help Uber move past it’s short, dramatic life?

Why You Need To Build A Brand Apart From Amazon… Even If You Have A Successful Business on Amazon

The high-level view of this conversation is “do you just want to sell products and make money, or do you want to build a business?”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either answer. But if your goal is to really more to build something more substantial, you need to consider the benefits of having that strong brand in place. If you’re just chasing tactics and gaming algorithms exclusively for the sake of selling, you can easily overlook building trust and relationships with your customers.

A proactive brand is, basically, a brand with a plan. It knows itself, it knows its place in the market, and it knows how to occupy that position effectively through what it does—and doesn’t—do. A reactive brand, by contrast, is one that does just that—reacts to whatever is going on around it at the time. With modern consumers ‘trained’ to see organized, cohesive, consistent brands, being more reactive can come off as erratic and alienate your customer base. Equally worrying, being too reactive can rely on consumer awareness of what you’re responding to.

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